Against #Calexit, Morally and Strategically

Robert E. Lee, hero of the secessionist South in the Civil War, viewed himself as a Virginian first and an American second. When Abraham Lincoln offered him command of the Union forces, despite his opposition to secession and slavery, Lee turned the offer down, stating:

“I shall never bear arms against the Union, but it may be necessary for me to carry a musket in the defense of my native state, Virginia, in which case I shall not prove recreant to my duty.”

Lee put Virginia first, an old-fashioned and incredibly destructive notion, increasingly so today as the many states become ever-more interdependent. In discussing potential Californian secession from the Union, the strategic arguments against a #Calexit are largely irrefutable and immutable, a premise to which I will later return. Therefore, substantive discussion of the moral argument is is the better place to begin. There are three key moral arguments against any sort of secession from the Union by California.

1. It would abandon suffering Americans to a diminished and more conservative United States.
2. It abandons the notion that we are always #StrongerTogether
3. It would make impossible California’s leadership of a future progressive movement in the whole United States

Firstly, California’s exit from the Union would end its role as the largest progressive counterweight to Texas and the South, allowing current, rapacious federal and state governments in the region to obliterate protections for minority ethnicities, faiths, and sexual orientations. California would abandon the moral high ground, leaving poor, underserved, and persecuted Americans to a terrible fate. Not even New York, with barely over half of California’s electoral weight, would be able to stand up for climate regulations, air quality, water quality, voter rights, and LGBT rights. California has the opportunity to defy federal laws in the courts, and to continue its history as a safe haven for those fleeing persecution and repression in other states of the Union. The state must stand for the hopes and dreams of the minorities in the 33 GOP governed states, acting as Texas did against President Obama to win injunctions and stays against President Trump’s executive orders to protect Americans both inside and outside its borders.

Secondly, seceding from the USA runs into direct opposition to the notion that we are Stronger Together. From Hamilton to Lincoln to Hillary Clinton, progressives in the United States have fervently advocated the strength of the greater union, of inclusive politics, and of the power of the people. Leaving the Union would shred this historical continuum and risk dissolution. From Federalist 10, a piece indescribably applicable to this case, Alexander Hamilton states

“No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity.”

This is clearly the case here, as California must reform the whole, not split off at the whim of its factional adherents. Federalists 8-11, all written by Hamilton, should be required reading for any who propose to see California as an independent state.

Alexander Hamilton, strong proponent of Federalism

Thirdly, California’s leadership on climate, marriage equality, immigration, and healthcare are an inspiration and dream to the 57 million Americans throughout the rest of the country who voted for progressive values in 2016. Leaving the union would make it impossible to lead the other 49 states to reverse President Trump’s agenda and bring the United States fully into the 21st century. California cannot abandon Americans in Louisiana to heavy metal pollution from potentially soon-to-be-refined Canadian tar-sands oil after the DAPL and Keystone-XL are approved. California cannot abandon citizens in Mississippi, Louisiana, or Florida who need hurricane assistance, or citizens of Flint, Michigan who need clean water regulation and funding. The very notion of Calexit is founded upon obscene privilege, that California could conceive to abandon those suffering throughout the rest of the United States to their fate.

For the strategic side, there is some small debate, though the most salient arguments point towards infeasibility. California is bound to the Union by its interdependency in arms, food, water, trade, and movement of people. California’s ports bring in 40% of US imports, its farms supply 50% of national produce, its people constitute over 12% of the national population, and the state bestrides the world in interstellar exploration and technology research. California depends on the Union as a market for its goods and services, is a major recipient of federal funds for aerospace technology and naval installations, and is dependent on the Colorado River for water to feed the southern half of the state. Even assuming that President Trump would allow the state to secede, all but guaranteeing his re-election in the diminished United States, the US Congress would have to approve of a Constitutional Amendment by a 2/3 majority in each house, followed by 3/4 of the 50 states approving the measure, with any less triggering a new and immeasurably destructive Civil War.

Source: http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist383/Water.html

Any barriers to international goods traveling by air, rail, and highway across the nation would impact proceeds from imports and exports, as would any new levies or restrictions on water coming into the state, which could prove catastrophic. A suddenly independent California, in the unlikely scenario where the US allows the state to secede peacefully, would likely see some benefits, as its remittances to Washington would instead remain local, and Sacramento would be free to pursue climate and social policies in contrast to current federal rules. But the state would have to trudge through trade disputes, potential insurrection, and the dismantling of economic ties along the way even in that fantasy scenario. California must remain in the Union as a safe haven for the persecuted, the poor, the helpless, and the sick from every corner of the nation, upholding progressive American values and ensuring they are publicly juxtaposed against Washington, DC.

California is in position to fund get out the vote (GOTV) operations in all 49 other states in favor of progressive values,  to resist attempted usurpations of the rights of the states or of the people by President Trump, and must remain in the union to counterbalance Texas and the conservative South. Furthermore, California is once again in a donor-state position, in which Sacramento sends more money to Washington than it receives. A suggested lesser action than attempted secession would be to hold payments to the federal government to generate a showdown. This would too be ill-advised, though, amounting to nullification in the modern era.

California is economically resurgent with an increasingly diverse population. The notion that California might consider abandoning the rest of the American people to burgeoning theocracy and broad retrenchment is insulting to good people nationwide. Without entering into excruciating detail about the entanglements between Sacramento and Washington such as nuclear technology, trade, and federal installations, the idea should be dead on arrival to rational Californians and should not be seriously entertained. It is infeasible, morally reprehensible, and instead California should rededicate itself to the restoration of the Union as the shining light on the hill for current and future Americans. The persecuted poor, uneducated, and minorities in America need California as a bastion of hope, and the state cannot shrink from its moral obligation.

Connor Lock is a graduate of Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service with a Bachelor’s of Science in International Political Economy and a certificate in European Studies. He also studied the EU and state development in Munich, Germany. Connor grew up in La Crescenta, California, and currently resides in Long Beach, California.

Check out my other posts “Call to Action” and “Triage to Defend Against Trump.” Share to your friends, message me your thoughts, and check me out on Twitter @PoliticoDude.